Location: London, England
Senator House is a multi-storey building located in central London, with underground reinforced concrete chambers situated directly beneath the front façade. McFarland Consulting Ltd were appointed to undertake a structural assessment of the chambers to support ongoing façade replacement works and to manage the risks associated with construction traffic loading in a constrained urban environment.
MCL carried out detailed inspections and non-destructive testing of the reinforced concrete chambers to establish structural form, condition and material performance. The findings were used to develop a finite element analysis (FEA) model representing the behaviour of the chambers under applied loading.
To verify and calibrate the analytical model, MCL designed and undertook a controlled load test, with the structural response monitored throughout. Based on the model outputs, fibre optic strain sensors were installed to form a permanent structural health monitoring system capable of capturing live load effects.
The monitoring system remains in operation and provides continuous data on loads applied to the underground chambers by construction traffic during the façade replacement works. Automatic load-trigger alarms have been implemented to alert the project team to exceedances, enabling proactive risk management and ensuring the continued safety of the structure throughout the construction programme.